Fray

It’s super sad, but these guys had to close their doors. This is from their website:
«It is with regret that we have to announce, due to a partnership dispute, that Fray has closed its doors.
The place was full, profitable, and much loved by Fraser Street, but unfortunately a minority shareholder recently signed a contract to sell the business, against the instructions of the majority of investors. Now we’re in a situation where we either have to sell at a loss or face a lawsuit from the buyer, who wishes to close it and turn it into a vegan restaurant, if we don’t.
Given the circumstances, today we made the brutally hard decision to close the doors of a packed restaurant and let the lawyers do their thing.
We can only apologize to those people who had bookings and come out every week for trivia and now have nowhere to feed their kids in the hood.
We’ve fought beyond hard, but sometimes you’ve got to push back from the table and start afresh.
We’ll miss you, Fraser Street. But we won’t be gone for long.»

Good atmosphere, friendly service, AMAZING rosemary potato chips (they
beat the crap out of the good-​not-​great fries), but the burgers were a
disappointment to me, especially for a place renowned for its burgers.
I don’t know what it was (seasoning? binder?) but my burger tasted
like a meatloaf sandwich — albeit a pretty good meatloaf sandwich —
rather than a burger. The toppings were fresh and generous but there
was something about the meat that left me really cold.
It’s closer to a 3.5÷5 for me, and I feel a little bad knocking 2
stars off for a so-​so burger, but the menu here is slanted HEAVILY
towards burgers, sooooo…
Back to the positives, though, their pulled pork is great. Guess I’ll
just stick to that.

Definitely has a hipster vibe, which may or may not for some people. I personally love how much character this place has. And the best part is that all the food we tried was delicious! I am not normally a burger person but their maple bacon burger was awesome and the portobello fries were sooo good! I came here for Dine Out with a friend and we wanted to order one of everything but since we couldn’t do that. We will just have to come back for more!

I’ve been to Fray so many times as we live nearby, so I was super excited when I saw a Groupon for $ 30 worth of food for $ 15.
This also happens to be my son’s favourite restaurant because 1) It has board games and 2) It makes macaroni and cheese.
This time we ordered the famous portobello fries, the pan-​seared salmon dish, and of course macaroni and cheese.
The fries were awesome once I added a little salt to them. I think a little seasoning salt would do these fries some good. I love the new fried vegetables trend that is happening now, like the avocado frites at Heirloom Vegetarian and parsnip crisps at The Acorn. It’s nice to trick myself into thinking I’m eating something healthy!:P
The pan-​seared salmon was the best thing we ate that night. I really appreciated the fact that they serve wild salmon and I loved the lemon dill sauce.
My son of course had the macaroni & cheese. They’ve done something to the recipe. It used to be radiator pasta and it used to taste like macaroni and cheese. This time around it was regular macaroni noodles and there was little to no flavour once we got past the top cheesy layer. My son didn’t even finish his meal. Fray, please go back to your original recipe!
We also were served a complimentary side of rosemary chips that tasted really burnt. They’ve decided not to use taro and other veggies anymore, which is a real disappointment because they used to be so unique.
Still, it is a friendly neighbourhood place that I will keep visiting often.

Want to bring out the inner hipster in you? Fray is your calling. With old school television programs such as Transformers, hipster looking servers, board games and even activities asking you to identify all the hipster aspects of the restaurant, it doesn’t get any more hip than that!
Decently priced food, drinks and dessert paired with good company and entertainment makes every visit enjoyable. The communal tables allow for a small party, and if you do choose to bring your own games, the option is always welcomed.

Went for the Saturday brunch and had really high hopes but that hope was just a tad dashed.
We were seated promptly, and although the interior was somewhat bland there were tons of nicknacks to keep me entertained until the waitress return for the order. Coloring pages, retro cartoons, PacMan, Astroids… this place screams nostalgia. And it’s all a very fun until you realize the food you ordered still hasn’t arrived. For a Saturday with less than 5 tables is that really acceptable?
Let’s give the Fray the benefit of the doubt and say they were going for the whole «a time less hurried» theme… Why didn’t my eggs Benny come out the same time as the bf’s burger? Poor little me had to sit there and watch him eat while I anxiously twiddled my thumbs.
The chips we got were WAY over fried it was brown, greasy and flavourless.
I would try again only because a friend owns this place.

I was pleasantly surprised with The Fray. The outside is drab but the interior was comfortable nostalgia. From the 50’s wallpaper, wall lamps, booth seating, board games & grey moulded panels to the He-​Man cartoons on dual LCDs, old style salt shakers /​candle holders /​glass Heinz bottle /​metal cutlery /​glass for ‘soda pop’ / (various) Coffee Mug (s) from Black Checker Cabs to the 50’s Pinup Waitress (not server) with a Pixie Bob haircut and a beauty mark.
They were even playing Johnny Cash in one of the Americana-​inspired sets! The real selling point is that they have Brunch! My girlfriend got Eggs Benny and I was able to get a Burger and salad. No complaints with the salad. The burger was great with some originality and zip to it without being spicy. I’m not a fan of spicy yet still I broke a sweat and couldn’t complain. Mmmmm. Very fresh ingredients. They remembered to put a pickle on the burger. It was presented open on a large plate and covered the plate!
It felt ok to pick up the burger like it was meant to be eaten. I didn’t feel like I would in a pretentious place, guilty for not using a fork and knife. This place is great! The server cleared tables around us fast and got refills on Coca-​Cola and Coffee pleasantly, swiftly and without fuss or interruption. Needless to say, she got more than the 20% tip suggested for great service. I was pleasantly surprised with the bill being under $ 30 for two!
Even though we traveled to go to The Fray, I’d do it again and bring friends and family.

Went for a saturday brunch and was pretty disappointed. First they had little to no vegan options, then they were out of yogurt, and apparently they can can’t do poached eggs. Sigh… At least they have boardgames, free chips if you check-​in on Unilocal and high chairs and zippy cups for your baby… But what good is it if there isn’t anything good to eat?
Scrambles eggs were pretty greasy. Quinoa salad was a good sized but rather tasteless without the dressing. Super, super quiet on a Saturday morning with only 2 tables… perhaps that was a good hint. Very standard greasy joint for carnivores but nothing special. I was hoping for a bit better. Maybe lunch or dinner is better.

I wanted to love this place so much! Fresh local ingredients, a nice cocktail list, quiz nights, hipster bingo — in theory this should have been great. While the quiz night was entertaining, the food was so disappointing!
I ordered the Philly cheese steak, which was huge but not at all tasty. The meat and the bun were both sweet, which was really unappetizing. My date had the Mac N Cheese, which wasn’t much of a step up from KD. If you’re going to *do* diner food and charge $ 15 for a Philly cheese steak or $ 12 for Mac N Cheese, at least do it well.
The service was also pretty bad. They brought my date the wrong cocktail, but nobody ever came by to see how we were doing so she sucked it up and drank it. We might have tried their crumble, but we were not asked if we wanted dessert. I also had the free chips deal from checking in on Unilocal,which we initially were charged $ 4 for on our bill.
I might come back for a pint on quiz night, but that’s it!

Fray is like Habit’s nerdy, grinning-​through-​her-​braces younger cousin. The interior looks like it was designed by three or four different people, all of whom chose to deck out the place in their favorite nerdy obsession — the board game person, the old movie poster person, the video game person. They have spelling bees. Yup, spelling bees.
The food? Pretty good. Comfort food. Nothing over-​the-​top, but nothing completely plain either. The local ingredients angle is a plus, because everything did seem quite fresh. The rosemary potato chips were a surprisingly yummy substitute for french fries.
Also, the place was really, genuinely unpretentious, which was nice. Combine the relaxed atmosphere with the spacious room, and you’ve got a nice place to just chill and eat… or play a board game.

I have made the rsvn via open table on Sunday morning and be there 10 mins before the booking. When we went in, we waited for 5 mins before someone greeted us, I told the staff I made the rsvn thru open table and pls check it for me. He didn’t respond at all and just took to us to the table. Then we waited for another 10 mins and the waitress came over to take our order.
She was so rushed to ask us what we wanted and saw my Unilocal check-​in. She gave us a free bowl of home-​made photo chips. We waited for 40 mins before our food come!
Overall, I have had bad experience at Fray and to rate them low!
Service: 0-​star, no service at all and so slow for food.
Astrosphere: 1-​star, too noisy and like a family run business. Table was quite sticky.
Food: 2-​star, just ok for burger and below standard of slaughterhouse breakfast.

This place could not be more suited to me. It’s got comfort food, fun retro décor, and… wait for it… BOARD GAMES!
Hello, did they secretly read my diary or something? This place is the best time. The Portobello fries are the bomb! I also had the Fray burger, which comes with Rosemary potato chips, which are delicious. Unilocal has a special check-​in bonus, too. If you check into Fray, you get a free order of Rosemary potato chips (this place just keeps getting better).
Now, you can’t come here and not have dessert. Let’s just talk about the crumbles for a minute (my fav dessert… clearly listed in my diary ;)). It was huge for the price; great value. Not to mention, it was very tasty. The crumble had the right amount of sweetness and tartness, and the apples were not mushy. They still had some of their crispness.
This place is quality. You can’t go wrong. It’s a fun, wild atmosphere with great food. Stick around for hours playing board games, order a bunch of drinks (beer, SIP soda, etc.), and munch on some Portobello fries and Rosemary chips.
Psst…here’s a secret… they even let adults order from the kid’s menu (they let me have the mac’n cheese) TEE HEE!

* Time warp *
Do you remember a time when groups like Depeche Mode, Erasure, Tears for Fears, Midnight Oil, House of Freaks, and REM were popular?
Stepping into Fray brought back that image as they play all of those types of music.
The place is filled with a ton of board games from back then too for people to grab and play at their tables if they choose to.
I guess that it is hip to be «retro» like that? In any case, one of the positives of such a time warp is that the food reminded me of how things used to be as well — particularly with my burger.
The burger was a simple, yet delicious, affair. It came on a nice bun (very similar to the burger buns from Swiss Bakery — I’m guessing they may source there) with very fresh lettuce, tomato slices, and a long sliced pickle. They had a hint of citrus mayo on the bun as well. The burger itself was nicely thick, phenomenally juicy, nicely charred on the outside yet still very moist inside. It was cooked medium (I prefer medium rare, but you don’t see that as an option at many places in Vancouver), yet still very juicy because of its thickness and the fact they had properly rested it. Overall an excellent burger. Photo:
It was plated with a side of rosemary chips. The chips were light, not overly greasy, and had a pleasant hint of rosemary. Photo:
Overall this was an excellent burger — even if I felt like I had gone through some warped hip time machine. I’ll be back! (And no, I’m not quoting that from an 80’s movie!)

Great hipster place in the middle of hipsterland aka East SIde.
Parking is available in the back. My friend and I laughed at the sign in the parking lot. They literally crossed out the name of the previous Vietnamese restaurant tenant with spray paint.
Right by the entrance is an old school Pacman table-​top arcade machine. It would’ve been freaking awesome except it costs $ 1 to play?! Bring back the quarters or make it free, seriously.
The waitress was very friendly, and spent some time explaining the restaurant concept to us. When we had questions about the food, she either answered them on the spot, or asked the chef and got back to us. Special mention.
Food here is very reasonably priced, with most dishes between $ 8 – 15. Comfort food that feels good.
If you check in, you get a free bowl of potato chips. One bowl is easily enough for 3 people. Hello high blood pressure.
I had the Fray burger for $ 10. It came with a salad with a really nice dressing. We asked the waitress and it turns out it’s made of balsamic vinegar and honey. Very interesting. One thing my friend noticed was that there was not a single brown leaf in either of our salads. +1 for freshness here.
One bite of the burger and you know it’s handmade. The texture was a bit lumpy, but that’s what you get when the ground beef is probably hand ground too. Haven’t had one of these in a very long time. Delicious.
This place definitely feels good. Recommended.

I went here for supper, drinks, & trivia on Thursday night. Good experience, but not a home run.
ROSEMARY CHIPS: When you check-​in to The Fray on Unilocal you get a complimentary bowl of salty, rosemary-​y potato, lotus, & taro chips. Very good, but I wouldn’t pay the regular $ 5.50 for them.
DUCK POUTINE: This appetizer was only advertised on their Facebook Page. Wouldn’t recommend it. The fries were not crisp, the duck was ground up into the gravy, and the cheese felt like soft bits of white cheese rather than cheese curds.
MAC & CHEESE: A basic white cheese sauce and radiatori pasta with a panko crust. Tasty but basic and definitely not worth the $ 12.95. Burgoo offers the same thing for $ 11 and for $ 14 you can get their Mac & More which is «chock full of aged white Cheddar, onion, thyme, bacon and peas, baked with seasoned breadcrumbs».
HOUSE WHITE WINE: On Thursdays you can take $ 5 off any bottle so a bottle of the house white wine cost just $ 15. It was wine from the Okanagan and tasted good to me!
TRIVIA: Three rounds, key-​based trivia. Team w/​the highest score got a pitcher of beer. Team who’s key was drawn got a $ 50 gift certificate to The Fray. The quiz-​lady was great and the questions were good.

Back

Come here for a Unilocal event hosted by Reena. Very good choice of place and surprisingly not busy for Sunday brunch.
I appreciated the adult themed activity pages which included coloring the missing tattoos on Henry Rollins and adding hair to Arcade Fire (I made them all have troll hair). There is something about anticipating French toast and coloring Henry Rollins to look like a hipster that made my Sunday.
As with all Unilocal events thus far, the company was awesome and can change the atmosphere drastically. Had I been here with a party of two, the atmosphere is noticeably plain and lacking in personality. There are board games scattered around for amusement, however, generally speaking there was no ambience.
I ordered the Cornflake crusted French toast, a gluten nightmare, however, with the menu description as it was I needed to try it. My stomach badly regretted it and an hour later due to my gluten intolerance, I ended up puking on the side of the road on the way to meet a date for chocolate tasting. Sadly the sickness wasn’t as worth it as I was hoping.
My definition of French toast is pretty standard with room for a few variations, however, nothing on my plate resembled my definition of French toast. The effort and creativity was appreciated, however, where was the egg battered seasoned bread for starters?
The presentation was awesome, however, using baguette with the outer skin baked didn’t allow for the Cornflakes to stick. By the time it arrived on my plate, the flakes were few and far between. It was layed in a citrus cream cheese that rather than complemented the syrup, heavily distracted.
The presentation looked awesome like a large slice of cake, however, not filling, therefore, ordered 2 polentas and a scrambled egg, both gluten free and done nicely.
Our waitress was extremely friendly and cheerful and she addressed all of our culinary and dietary concerns and even joked with us a bit.

Joined fellow Unilocalers here for brunch after the brave few among them donated blood for the Blood & Brunch UYE organized by Reena M. My first impressions were a funky and laid-​back atmosphere (complete with «adult» colouring paper) and the fast & friendly service. A bit of a hike from my usual downtown ‘hood but very easy to get to by transit.
As for food, I was welcomed by the complimentary chips that I got for checking in. Free food you say? Sweet! I’m not usually a «chip» fan but 1. I was craving salt; and 2. the addition of taro root and other ingredients to the usual potatoes made them more unique. My farmer’s omelette was a very generous size and an absolutely delicious combo of cheese, sausage, onions and red peppers inside the eggs. Also, our server was able to substitute a nice fresh side salad for the usual bread, to accommodate my gluten allergy.
Overall, I was impressed with the quality of the food and speedy service. I was worried about the fact that I had arrived later than everyone else, but my food arrived very quickly so I was able to start enjoying my meal before everyone else was finished eating.

** 200^th Review! WOOHOO!!**
Why Fray?
1. Free chips with a check-​in! What? I know, right?! Perfect for sharing :)
2. Service was great — they knew we had a time constraint, so they were quick with all our orders and ensured we were out when we needed to be without actually rushing us. We felt completely welcomed and it led to a great night out.
3. The food was all-​around fab. I ordered the wild mushroom ravioli, and was blown away. Had a taste of the mushroom burger, and loved the goat cheese tomato sauce combo. The chips were great too — seasoned with rosemary! The orange panna cotta was alright — it’s just a panna cotta with a few tangerine slices on top, not orange-​infused like I had originally thought (though reading the description again, it doesn’t say that anywhere, so my bad).
4. Board games!!! LOVE board games! But that being said, their board games are in need of some serious TLC. Connect Four was literally in pieces, Operation was missing all but four parts, and I’m fairly certain the jenga blocks were off by a few as well. They do have a good supply of games though, and I really wanted to bust out the Settlers, but again, time constraint. Jenga works great if you ensure you clear away all your drinks /​food.
Overall, I could come back for another test run hands down. Hopefully they’ll get some new games, or fix up the old ones? Taboo /​Catchphrase would be perfect additions!

We’ve been back to Fray a couple of times now and the food continues to be consistent and the room lacking. It just feels so cold. I really do want to hang out for longer but the room just isn’t as inviting and cozy as the food is.
I am excited to pop in for brunch and am extremely happy to see the neighbourhood supporting this place.
It is very nice to see the owners take the feedback given and continue to tweak things to maximize Fray’s potential.